LYONS: Airbag attorney? Hope you never need one

Published: Thursday, January 27, 2011 at 1:00 a.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, January 26, 2011 at 6:44 p.m.

Back when he was a commercial cargo pilot, Bryan Peacock had a whisker-thin near miss during a landing approach, because a jetliner on the ground made a wrong turn across the runway.

That was more than three decades ago, but the Sarasota man, now 69, thought about that three weeks ago after another white-knuckle moment, this one in his Honda Odyssey.

But the scare in the van has been harder to figure out.

While driving with a friend on Tamiami Trail in Bradenton, he and she were both stunned by a blinding explosion.

It was the Honda's front airbags. They deployed for no reason whatsoever that Peacock could discern.

"I didn't hit anything and nothing hit me," Peacock told me. He is adamant that there hadn't been so much as a pothole.

Unlike cars stopped by a collision, Peacock's van was still doing 40 mph in traffic when the bag slammed his face and briefly blinded him. He said he felt serious relief when he stopped safely on a side street, with nothing but a bruise on his wrist and his passenger uninjured.

Peacock folded up the spent airbags to get them out of the way, and drove off.

He brought the van to the Wilde Honda dealership in Sarasota, where I later talked to manager Skip Strasburger. He confirms what Peacock was told: They have never had such a report there before, and Strasburger had never even heard of one.

The dealership kept the car for almost a week. A veteran technician tested everything he could think of, and talked at length with Honda headquarters, but came up with nothing.

"It's a mystery to us here," Strasburger said. "It was very perplexing."

Airbag issues have been reported on many makes and models, of course. The life-saving devices work wonders, but since they can still be dangerous, even fatal, the glitches matter. The better-known ones are sensors that didn't deploy bags when needed, and overly sensitive ones that deployed in such low-speed impacts that airbags were more dangerous than the crash.

But deployment with no impact at all? My Internet searching shows there have been a few such reports, usually on other brands of vehicles, but they seem rare, often unexplained. Some are believed caused by electrical problems.

Airbag issues are listed in ads posted by many lawyers shopping for injured clients, but few even mention out-of-the-blue deployment. My favorite thing learned from those legal ads: Some law firms are unashamed to give the following advice:

"Call an airbag attorney today."

"Aren't they all airbags?" might be your immediate response. If so, you might also appreciate a lawyer who, while short on hyphens, referred to himself as a "defective airbag attorney." Maybe he's right.

Peacock first feared his incident might cost him. Replacing airbags typically costs well over $1,000, and two or three times that in some models. But a few days ago his insurance company agreed to cover the cost, and to replace the impact sensors.

Peacock says Allstate gave an interesting reason. It's a theory, of sorts, about what went wrong.

Two years ago, a hunk of tire from a semi bashed Peacock's van, requiring body work. Paperwork shows the repair included replacement of an impact sensor. Peacock says Allstate is assuming his airbag incident was connected to that repair.

I guess Peacock won't need an airbag attorney.

Tom Lyons can be contacted at tom.lyons@heraldtribune.com or (941) 361-4964.

<p>Back when he was a commercial cargo pilot, Bryan Peacock had a whisker-thin near miss during a landing approach, because a jetliner on the ground made a wrong turn across the runway.</p><p>That was more than three decades ago, but the Sarasota man, now 69, thought about that three weeks ago after another white-knuckle moment, this one in his Honda Odyssey.</p><p>But the scare in the van has been harder to figure out.</p><p>While driving with a friend on Tamiami Trail in Bradenton, he and she were both stunned by a blinding explosion.</p><p>It was the Honda's front airbags. They deployed for no reason whatsoever that Peacock could discern.</p><p>"I didn't hit anything and nothing hit me," Peacock told me. He is adamant that there hadn't been so much as a pothole.</p><p>Unlike cars stopped by a collision, Peacock's van was still doing 40 mph in traffic when the bag slammed his face and briefly blinded him. He said he felt serious relief when he stopped safely on a side street, with nothing but a bruise on his wrist and his passenger uninjured.</p><p>Peacock folded up the spent airbags to get them out of the way, and drove off.</p><p>He brought the van to the Wilde Honda dealership in Sarasota, where I later talked to manager Skip Strasburger. He confirms what Peacock was told: They have never had such a report there before, and Strasburger had never even heard of one.</p><p>The dealership kept the car for almost a week. A veteran technician tested everything he could think of, and talked at length with Honda headquarters, but came up with nothing.</p><p>"It's a mystery to us here," Strasburger said. "It was very perplexing."</p><p>Airbag issues have been reported on many makes and models, of course. The life-saving devices work wonders, but since they can still be dangerous, even fatal, the glitches matter. The better-known ones are sensors that didn't deploy bags when needed, and overly sensitive ones that deployed in such low-speed impacts that airbags were more dangerous than the crash.</p><p>But deployment with no impact at all? My Internet searching shows there have been a few such reports, usually on other brands of vehicles, but they seem rare, often unexplained. Some are believed caused by electrical problems.</p><p>Airbag issues are listed in ads posted by many lawyers shopping for injured clients, but few even mention out-of-the-blue deployment. My favorite thing learned from those legal ads: Some law firms are unashamed to give the following advice:</p><p>"Call an airbag attorney today."</p><p>"Aren't they all airbags?" might be your immediate response. If so, you might also appreciate a lawyer who, while short on hyphens, referred to himself as a "defective airbag attorney." Maybe he's right.</p><p>Peacock first feared his incident might cost him. Replacing airbags typically costs well over $1,000, and two or three times that in some models. But a few days ago his insurance company agreed to cover the cost, and to replace the impact sensors.</p><p>Peacock says Allstate gave an interesting reason. It's a theory, of sorts, about what went wrong.</p><p>Two years ago, a hunk of tire from a semi bashed Peacock's van, requiring body work. Paperwork shows the repair included replacement of an impact sensor. Peacock says Allstate is assuming his airbag incident was connected to that repair.</p><p>I guess Peacock won't need an airbag attorney.</p><p>Tom Lyons can be contacted at tom.lyons@heraldtribune.com or (941) 361-4964.</p>